Day 4731

I have a hard time getting used to Winter in Texas. A few weeks ago it was below freezing. Today the temperature was in the mid-70's. No goose down coats today. I wore shorts and a t-shirt on my walks. It would have been nice if the sun was shining today, but at least it wasn't raining. The sky was grey and looked like it was on the verge of raining all day, but luckily it never did.

We had a nice quiet walk with Dawn this morning. There were very few bicycles to avoid because the roads were wet. There weren't many joggers either which was surprising. It seemed like a good day for a run. One problem with days like this is that our shoes get muddy. We have a system for cleaning them but Dawn gets impatient with us. She's ready to go inside and eat some more as soon as we return home.

I continued changing old passwords today. Some of my oldest passwords were so simple that anyone could figure them out. I discovered that I'd reused many of these passwords as well. You can't do that these days. Implementing more secure passwords made me nostalgic for the days when the Internet was innocent and simple. These days it seems more of an adversary than a friend.

I continue walking in the park because I don't like fighting all the Christmas traffic on the way to the gym. At least a walk in the park creates an illusion of peace and tranquility. I saw both eagles today. They were sitting in their nest. I wonder why eagles love to build nests in dead trees. The eagles I see in Florida do the same thing. A rotten dead tree got Nick and Nora in trouble last year and they lost their nest. Hopefully they will have better luck this year.

I keep wondering why five of the domestic geese that live near Sunset Bay have disappeared. I keep thinking that someone captured them and took them home to eat. Something like this wouldn't really surprise me at all. There has to be a reason for all the "no trapping or poaching" signs I see along the shoreline. 

There is a rare occultation of Mars and the Moon happening right now. I'd been hoping to see this, but it's quite cloudy outside. I keep going out in the back yard, hoping for a break in the clouds. No such luck. Occasionally I'll see a faint glow through the clouds where the moon is supposed to be, but mostly I see nothing. The sky is really overcast tonight. My luck with astronomical events isn't very good. This definitely isn't the first time that bad weather has prevented me from seeing something interesting in the night sky.

There is another firmware update available for the star tracker but I didn't feel like bothering with it today. The day was dismal and I didn't feel like doing much of anything. Dawn was in a better mood than me and  actually did pretty well in her training class this evening. Maybe we'll see the sun tomorrow. I certainly hope so.

Humphrey is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4698

We got a lot of rain today, but all is well. The storm did produce tornados, but there were none in our area. No trees fell in the yard, the roof hasn't leaked, and the day wasn't totally disrupted. We were able to give Dawn her regular sunrise walk and I even had time to take a long walk in the park after breakfast before the weather got bad. The entire storm system moved through town very quickly, leaving much cooler temperatures in its wake. I was really surprised at how cold it feels now.

I walked earlier than usual this morning in an effort to beat the rain. Although I've only seen the eagles once since their return to the park, I did find their new nest today. Eagles don't appear to be that smart about picking a nest location. Once again they've built their nest at the top of a dead tree. Hopefully, the tree won't blow over in a storm and destroy the nest like it did last year. Everyone seems to assume that these are the same two eagles that made their home in the park last year. You couldn't prove it by me. Every eagle I've ever seen looks exactly the same.

My feet certainly aren't improving. I'm starting to have a lot of foot pain again. For a while I thought this might be because my walking shoes are starting to wear out. That's not it. I wore some new Hokas on my last trip to Florida and my feet felt exactly the same. The pain isn't bad enough to stop me from walking, but it is irritating. It's just another aspect of growing old I suspect.

The media logistics e-mail for the next Artemis launch attempt came out today. I now know when and where to go throughout the entire launch window. I'm glad everything meshed well with the plans I've already made, because it's way too late for me to change anything. I really hope the next launch attempt is successful. I can't afford many more trips to see launches that get scrubbed.

I'll continue to look for a better hotel, but I doubt that I'll find anything. Even if a room does open up, I'm sure that someone pushier or with a lot more clout than I have will grab it first. Oh, well. You win some and you lose some. I've usually found very nice places to stay while I'm in Titusville. I guess my luck had to run out sometime.

I'm glad we didn't get any damage from today's storms. Storms are not my friend. After years of downed trees and roof leaks, I always expect the worst. I don't know what I'd do without the weather apps on my phone. They are really pretty accurate. I know when the rain is going to start and stop, as well as how bad it is going to be. Without these apps, I probably wouldn't have had the nerve to take a long walk today. You don't want to be out alone in the woods when tornados are in the forecast.

The weather will be a lot better tomorrow. We'll have to dress warmly for Dawn's sunrise walk though. The temperature will be in the low 40's. I haven't made a grocery list yet, but that's on the agenda. It looks we're going to have a fairly normal weekend. As far as I'm concerned, normal is good.

Ginger is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4436

It was really windy today. I almost got blown off the trail at several points during my long walk. On my way home there was the usual crowd watching the eagles, but I didn't see the nest. I didn't think anything of this. The nest is hard to see from my vantage point on the trail and I figured I was just looking in the wrong place. I've seen these birds so many times that I no longer walk over to the spot where you can see the eagles clearly. Later I learned that the nest had blown down in the wind and the eggs inside had broken. It was a sad ending to the eagle saga that has captivated the city for months. I wonder if the birds will stay? Somehow I doubt that they will build a new nest and start all over again.

My friend's house up the street is just an empty lot now. Everything is gone. The excavator even ripped up the swimming pool. It's weird how quickly this happened. It can take several years to build a house these days. It took less than two days to completely erase one. This made me kind of sad as well. I'm sure something grand will appear on this lot in due time, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the house that was torn down. The empty lot is one more sign that we live in a disposable society.

The power company tree crews have left the neighborhood. I didn't see any trucks today. It will take a while to clean up all the little twigs in the yard and our Asian Jasmine ground cover is pretty badly trampled. I wish the crew had left our Live Oak trees alone and cut down our damaged Red Oak tree instead. That wasn't on their agenda though. I was hoping that I'd have a better view of the southern horizon with the trees gone, but I didn't even get that. Now I just have a better view of the neighbor's trees on the other side of the alley. 

I wrote a letter to my sister this morning and took it to the post office. On the way home I picked up some new meds for Dawn at the vet. I'm not even sure what these pills are for, but Janet knows. I wasn't very productive today but I did change the sheets. Was putting a fitted sheet on the bed always this hard? Aching joints have made a lot of simple tasks seem difficult now. I shouldn't complain so much, but I still think that growing older sucks.

I still haven't taken the star tracker outside at night and tested it. It's so easy for me to make excuses. The light pollution in Dallas is terrible. There are a ton of bright lights in our neighborhood as well, including some in our own yard. The moon is getting pretty bright as well, but it isn't nearly as bright as our security light. It makes you wonder why I even got interested in astronomy. Maybe I'll return to McDonald Observatory this Spring. It's nice and dark out there. Then again, maybe I won't go after all. I have no interest in making that long drive anymore.

Dawn does seem to be becoming friendlier with me. That's a good sign in a world with very few good signs. Today she saw me returning from my long walk through the living room window and came running out to greet me with her tail wagging. We might end up becoming buddies yet.

Lucky is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4422

We walked Dawn this morning and then I took Janet to the eye surgery center. The place was huge. It was also crowded. I never dreamed there were so many people in town with eye problems. The surgery center was very efficient. I got text messages every hour updating Janet's progress. The cataract surgery went well and Janet said that I had nothing to worry about when it was my turn.

All our phones seem to be dying. I took another phone to the neighborhood fix-it place today and they put in a new battery in less than thirty minutes. This is so much easier than going to the Apple Store. On the way back home I drove by the eagle's nest and noticed that the area was being fenced off. There didn't appear to be any eagles in the nest, but I can almost guarantee that there will be wrecks along this stretch of road, now that the nest location is common knowledge.

On the other side of the road there now appears to be a growing contingent of eagle watchers.  Some bring lawn chairs and sit there for hours whether the eagles are there or not. This nest must be new. It appears that the whole city discovered it the same day I did.

I don't think I've done a good job preparing for the storm. We haven 't gone to the store and bought extra food, stocked up on batteries, or done any other panic buying. Actually buying extra food doesn't make sense. If the power goes out for any length of time, the food in your refrigerator is just going to go bad anyway. I was going to test my generator to make sure I can still get it started, but I can do that tomorrow. The generator is a little harder to start with a bad shoulder, but I'm pretty sure it still works fine. It's too bad that the power company guys didn't trim our trees near the alley before the storm. They're in the neighborhood now, but they haven't made it to our house yet.

When I took my long walk today, I brought a camera with me. The eagles weren't in their nest unfortunately, but I did see one of them a mile or so down the road. The birds hunt over a fairly wide area, so you never know when they are going to turn up next. Usually when you see one, it is sitting on a branch near the top of a tall tree. One of these days I'll get a good picture, but it probably won't be when I'm taking my long walk. It's too much trouble to carry a DLSR with a telephoto lens while I'm walking and the little pocket camera I had with me today just doesn't take great bird pictures. It does pretty well with squirrels though.

It's weird how dependent we are on electricity. We have a gas furnace, but it doesn't work without electricity. The fan and a lot of switches and sensors all require electricity. It's too bad we don't have a fireplace. A fire in the fireplace makes a long power outage a little less ominous. We do have hot water though. The water heater doesn't seem to require any electricity at all. Maybe this storm won't be that bad. I'm not a very positive person, so I always expect the worst.

Janet has a follow up appointment with her eye doctor tomorrow, but I don't think Dawn will be going to training class tomorrow night. The rain isn't supposed to start until the afternoon. Who knows when it will start turning to ice. I plan on hunkering down and not going anywhere until this is all over. Hopefully, we won't lose power this year.

Myles is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 4421

We picked up a new dog at our vet on the way to the kennel today. Peanut is a six month old male owner surrender. He was a little thin, but very healthy and well cared for. I never make judgements about why someone would give up their dog, but it does puzzle me when a dog this nice turns up in the rescue program. Peanut came with a big box of blankets and dog toys, along with a list of what tricks and commands he knew. Peanut knew quite a bit and totally charmed Janet and I, along with the entire kennel staff. We spent quite a while playing with him today because we suspected that this might be the last time we see him. Young dogs like this get adopted incredibly quickly. Don't worry. Charlie and Oliver didn't get left out. We spent a lot of time playing with them as well.

The weather was nice today, but the cold front keeps moving closer and closer. The bad weather isn't supposed to arrive until Wednesday but I can already feel a change in the air. I'm trying to take advantage of the nice weather while I can. I took my long walk early this morning so we'd have plenty of time to visit the kennel. On the way home I finally spotted the eagles nest, along with both eagles. I was totally surprised at where the eagles built the nest. I had always suspected that it was hidden deep in a thick wooded area away from human contact. Nope. These two eagles built their nest right next to a busy road in plain sight of everyone. It's only a few miles from our house. I don't know why I never noticed this before. I drive right by the nest every time I go to the post office. I've heard that the eagles have actually built two nests. I have no idea whether the nest I saw today was the new one or the old one. It was definitely occupied though. The female was sitting in the nest and the male was guarding it from a nearby tree.

The closer the winter storm comes, the more apprehensive I become. Everyone remembers the big fiasco last winter when big chunks of the entire state lost power for days. The cold is bad enough, but this storm comes with freezing rain. Ice storms are the worst because they knock down trees and power lines. I remember a few ice storms where we had to go stay in a hotel for a few days because the power company wasn't making restoring power to our neighborhood a priority. This was back when Janet was still working so we could all go to Janet's office during the day and warm up. Don't have that luxury anymore. I'd be nervous taking Dawn to a hotel anyway. She freaks out about doing anything new. Hopefully, the storm won't be as bad as it already is in my mind. We'll probably be OK. Most things aren't nearly as bad as they are in my mind.

Janet has cataract surgery tomorrow, so I'm the designated driver for a while. I hope the surgery goes smoothly and is as trouble free as most people say it is. I'm next on the list for this same procedure. I'll probably delay my surgery until next year, but I can already tell that I'm going to need it. I've made my living using my eyes for a long time and the thought of a doctor doing anything to them makes me cringe. They say you are back to normal remarkably quickly though. At any rate, I'll be paying close attention to what happens with Janet's procedure.

I took a camera back to the park late in the day to get a picture of the eagles in their nest. Not surprisingly, they were gone. If they went to this much trouble to build the huge nest, they'll probably be back though. I'll keep watching for them. Maybe I'll even have a camera with me. The birds are interesting, but dogs are still much easier to photograph.

Cooper is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day